Chapter Six – Jack

Great work, he told himself. Her hand was still in his, and he was tempted to take her sword off of her, put her over his shoulder, and carry her back to the house where he would keep her prisoner until he could talk—or kiss—some sense into her.

He breathed in her scent and closed his eyes. He couldn’t do that to her. Not because he was sworn to protect his mate and never hurt her, but because if he took away her freedom, if he stopped her from rescuing her mom, he would break the trust that a relationship was built on. The trust that surpassed the mating bond, the trust that a man and a woman must have, if they are going to spend the rest of their lives together.

And they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. She just didn’t know it yet.

“I’m Jack Loveson,” he said. “And you are…?”

“Eva. Evaine Doe.”

“Evaine Doe. That’s a strange last name.”

“Is it?” She frowned, her stance becoming defensive.

“You don’t want to talk about it.”

She sighed, but her body stance stayed the same. “There’s no mystery. I’m like a Jane Doe. Only my parents, or whoever dumped me outside a hospital when I was a baby, wrote my first name on the box.”

“Wait, but it’s your mom you are doing this for?” he asked, surprised. “Does that mean you looked for her when you were old enough? Or did she come find you?”

“No.” She shrugged. “I never knew her. I never found her. The first time I set eyes on her was yesterday, after I was taken to this warehouse, and she was there.”

“How do you know she’s your mother?” he asked.

“They showed me the results of a DNA test,” she said sarcastically.

“Great, well, in that case, I’ll go ask Gareth for the Dragon’s Tear and we’ll go get her.” He held out his hands in exasperation. “Really, how do you know?”

Eva turned away from him, and he waited for the lie she was about to tell him. He understood, she didn’t know him, couldn’t feel what he felt, and didn’t owe him the truth. It still hurt; they were bonded, he couldn’t hurt her, couldn’t lie to her, and he had kind of expected the same in return. But then he was influenced by his parents and the way they behaved toward each other. The relationships could not be compared. His parents were both shifters, and so were true to each other in all ways, the bond strong in each of them.

“She looked like me… I just knew. Don’t you think you would know your parents? Even if you had never met them before?” Then she turned and looked him in the eye, daring him to argue with her, daring him to tell her that was not a good enough reason to risk your life.

He let it go. “Come on, let’s get inside. You look as if you need to eat and sleep.”

Eva sagged, as if his words made her realize just how exhausted she was. Her dark hair, almost black, hung around her face, concealing her features, but he could make out the dark circles under her eyes, and the pinched look to her face. She reminded him of Helena, their witch, when she had put too much energy into a banishing spell. Jack thought once more of that big degetty Gareth was planning to sell. It annoyed the hell out of him that the druid was going to make a pile of cash from selling a degetty that Helena might come up against one day, and nearly kill herself breaking the binding spell to send him back to the Underworld.

That wasn’t a bad idea, he mused as he led Eva back to the house. They might just as well do it now, go to Gareth’s house, get the Dragon’s Tear, if it was still there, and then send the caged degetty home. If they were going to piss off Gareth, and the Council, they might just as well do the job properly.

Except there would be repercussions. If those repercussions were aimed solely at Jack, he would say do it. But the Council would know he could not act alone, he didn’t have the magic. They would blame Helena, who was always loyal to Jack and the squad. He didn’t want to bring that down on her; the ripples would spread out, and hurt her coven. As the head witch, ruler of the coven, they would defend her, as would the elemental spirits linked to it. The same Elementals who had chosen Helena as the coven leader, and whom they obeyed when they were summoned to help with strong magic.

No, Jack could not make war with the Council. This was the quietest, most peaceful time in the history of the Council. Jack was not going to be the one who ended it. If there was trouble between the different factions in their community, another group would take advantage of it. Such as whoever wanted the Dragon’s Tear.

They had reached the edge of the trees, and he had one more warning for Eva. “Before we go in, there is something you should know.” He was surveying the clearing, making sure no one had followed her here. It all looked peaceful, and he could not scent any strangers. Although his senses were so caught up in Eva, they weren’t exactly trustworthy right now. “Don’t eat my brother’s cooking.”

“Why? Will he try to poison me?” she asked warily.

“No, although it might taste like it.” He grinned, looking down at her, the desire to kiss her still strong. “It doesn’t taste good. And that’s me being polite.”

“Oh.” She looked disappointed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll fix you something else. Say you don’t like whatever he’s cooked.” Jack turned back to the house. This was his home, his brothers were inside, and he was about to walk in there with Evaine Doe, Night Hunter.

Trouble would follow, and they would stand by him, and fight with him to the death, to protect his mate, a woman he didn’t know. This was not how he had expected to meet his mate. For some reason, he thought fate would be kind, send him a female shifter, with whom he could run and hunt, and get to know, before they settled down and had a family.

Instead he had a female Night Hunter, who had secrets she didn’t want to share—and a thing for killing his kind. “You’d better leave your sword just inside the door.” He looked around at her when she didn’t answer. “I give you my word, while you are under our roof, no one will harm you.”

“You speak for your brothers too? Or are we not going to tell them what I am?” she asked.

“They know already.”

“How?” she asked.

“We had a visit from another druid, he told us you were a Night Hunter.”

“But they don’t know what I look like. So how…?”

“I told my brother Kurt, I’d met my mate tonight.” He shrugged. “Sorry, it’s a fate thing. And I’m not going to be able to hide my feelings toward you. I’ll get … jealous when other people are around you.”

“We didn’t meet at the gully. How did you already know I’m your mate?” she asked.

“I caught your scent, where you fought the degetty, and I knew. Kurt picked up on me acting weird.”

“You knew I was here, didn’t you? Earlier, when you left the house, you picked up my scent.”

They were at the door now. “I can’t lie. I scented you. I waited by the stream for you to make a move. I could have overpowered you at any time. But I figured you would be more likely to open up if you thought you were in control of the situation.”

Eva planted her hands on her hips. “You played me.”

“Would you rather I’d attacked you?”

“No. Yes. Maybe.” She wiped her hand over her face. “You know what? I don’t care anymore. I’m tired, and I ache in places I never knew I could ache.”

Jack slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to him, burying his face in her hair. “I swear to you, I will be by your side every step of the way from now until the end of our days. All you have to do is trust me.”

Eva relaxed into him, her body giving in to the protection he offered, submitting to him. She took in a shuddering breath, and he didn’t need to see her face to know she was crying. Jack held her, while she let out her pent-up emotions.

“I’m just a bank clerk, you know? I’m not a Night Hunter. I’m girl who has no home, no family, and no prospects. I’m no one. So why me?” Her words tumbled out of her mouth.

“Evaine Doe. That is who you were. Not who you are. You are my mate. I give you my home, my family will protect you, and you will find your place in this world.” Jack rubbed her back, just as his mom would when they were children. He wanted to comfort her and soothe her. He also wanted to tear down walls and rip the world apart to find the people who would hurt his mate.

That was for tomorrow. Tonight, they needed to eat, and sleep, and make a plan that wouldn’t leave them all dead. Or worse.